With a holiday weekend coming and inspired by a bit of news this week, I thought we’d have a little fun here in the college newsletter this evening.
Wisconsin announced that Culver’s will be the jersey patch sponsor of Badgers football, men’s basketball and men’s hockey on Tuesday. The fast-food giant is a staple in the state and across the Midwest.
That got me thinking: What are a few other schools with obvious, or fun jersey patch sponsors that could have similar synergy?
These were a few of my ideas (yes, I accept any and all consulting fees):
Coastal Carolina: Visit Myrtle Beach
Coastal Carolina has been known to lean into the fun and whimsy that comes from a weekend on the beach. Why not make it more official?
The school already has the teal “Surf Turf.” Let’s get Visit Myrtle Beach involved and add to the tourism flare with air brush football helmets and a boardwalk-styled sideline.
Georgia: Coca-Cola
This one is easy. Georgia has plenty of major companies in its backyard, but Coca-Cola feels like the most obvious answer. Can that jersey patch include a few of the polar bears we all love so much around the holidays? That’s innovation that excites.
Alternative: Augusta National Golf Club (yes, I know they wouldn’t go for this in a million years, but a guy can dream, right?)
Indiana: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The reigning national football champions are getting widespread attention, but racing is in the fabric of the state. The Pacers have leaned into the motorsports motif with a few alternate jerseys. Let’s get the Hoosiers in on the action with a racing stripe jersey patch.
Kentucky: Buffalo Trace
I know you technically can’t have alcohol sponsors for jersey patches, but let’s not let rules get in the way of common sense. I picked Buffalo Trace, but you could go with just about any of the distillery stops along the bourbon trail for this jersey patch. Maybe you rotate it each week?
Anyways, this thought exercise is making me thirsty. Might be time to grab one of those giant rocks out of my fridge and pour myself a glass. …
Maryland: Old Bay Seasoning
Crab cakes and football — that’s what Maryland does.
I’m leaning into that. As a D.C. native, I am plenty familiar with the ways of crab season on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. I keep Old Bay stocked in my kitchen at home here in South Carolina.
Hard to imagine Mike Locksley’s football team ever losing a game with an Old Bay jersey patch affixed to the Maryland state flag-inspired Under Armour jerseys they so often sport. Perfect symmetry.
Nebraska: Runza
I have admittedly never set foot in a Runza, but if we’re following the Culver’s-Wisconsin track, this makes too much sense. Runza, a fast-food giant across the state, was founded and is headquartered in Lincoln. Seems like an easy marriage to me.
Notre Dame: Vatican City
The connections between Notre Dame and the Vatican are self explanatory. Plus, we’ve got a pope who’s into sports, while Notre Dame is headed to the holy city for basketball games against Villanova later this fall.
Surely Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua can get Pope Leo on the phone to discuss adding the coat of arms of the Holy See — a central insignia on the Vatican’s flag — to a Fighting Irish football jersey, right?
Editor’s note: I also considered Pope Leo’s beloved Chicago White Sox as a patch sponsor here à la MLB’s sponsorship of golfer Cameron Young, but this felt more natural.
Stanford: Google
Given the lengthy list of prodigious ex-Stanford students, this could go a million different ways. Peter Thiel’s PayPal? How about Netflix? Co-founder Reed Hastings is a Stanford grad. SpaceX? Elon Musk briefly attended the school before dropping out.
I landed on the easy answer here: Google.
Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are Stanford alums. That’s plenty of Silicon Valley ethos to give them the nod here.
Texas Tech: Literally any oil company based in West Texas
Pick your poison on this one. The obvious answer is Double Eagle Energy Holdings — co-founded by Red Raiders booster Cody Campbell — though oil and gas companies are a dime a dozen in this part of the country.
One other alternative is Masked Rider Capital, the Lubbock-based firm run by billionaire Texas Tech grad Dustin Womble (Yes, the same Womble’s whose name appears all over campus).
Utah: Deer Valley Resort
Let’s continue leaning into regionality here. A couple of my college buddies live in Salt Lake City, and their consistent refrain around October is that they can’t wait for ski season. We here at the SBJ College newsletter hear you loud and clear. Skiing sponsor it is!
Vanderbilt: Grand Ole Opry
There is more to Nashville than just Broadway. I’ll side with that sentiment here — though I do love an evening in the Broadway honky tonks.
The Commodores have aspirations of being Nashville’s team, so let’s lean into the music scene.
Years ago I toured Vanderbilt’s campus as a prospective student (no, I did not get in), but my family went to the Grand Ole Opry one night for a show. Genuinely one of the coolest venues out there. This would rock. *Exits stage left*
Washington: Starbucks
Washington AD Pat Chun has mentioned to me a handful of times the major companies that call Seattle home are obvious partners for the school to lean into sponsorship-wise. That said, let’s go with a Seattle OG.
I made my first trip to Seattle a couple years ago and I was genuinely shocked to see how long the line was at the original Starbucks down by Pike Place Market. Easy to forget behemoths like that start small, too.
